Silent Night
by Im2xshy
Summary: Post-Breaking Dawn. Canon is intact. Story is told exclusively from Edward's POV. A peak into how things may have been going a decade or so later.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Not mine; no copyright infringement intended.**_

_**This is post-Breaking Dawn. All canon is in tact. The story is told exclusively from Edward's point of view.**_

_**Thank you to my betas! You rock!**_

1.

"_Whoa. Who's that?"_

Oh for the love of all that's Holy, here we go.

"_Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. They're two of Dr. Cullen's foster kids. There's four more, but it doesn't look like they came in yet. The other four are, like coupled up, but not these two."_

"_She looks like some kind of supermodel."_

"_Yeah, she's really hot. She doesn't date though."_

"_Why, you've asked?"_

"_I asked her out last year a little while after they moved here. Let's just say, her brothers didn't like it."_

No. Call me old fashioned, which she often does, but I don't approve of my wife dating. And while I'm on this particular subject, I'd like to further launch my disapproval of Bella and I pretending to be brother and sister this time around. Alice and Jasper and Rosalie and Emmett aren't hiding that they're together. But because I can deny my wife nothing, I agreed to this.

I'm a married man with a grown and married daughter for crying out loud, why I'm pretending to be in high school at all and not college…

"What's with that expression on your face?" Bella asks as we sit down at our usual lunch table and wait for the others.

"Hmm?" I ask.

She laughs, and as usual, it turns heads. "Someone preoccupying your thoughts?"

"There's a new kid. Of course, he thinks you're gorgeous."

"I guess there's no accounting for taste." She shrugs and I roll my eyes. "He hasn't seen Rose yet obviously. Who is it?"

"The blonde guy sitting with Matt Nelson."

She makes no pretense about being casual as she glances across the cafeteria. The new kid turns red when she smiles at him and immediately looks away.

"_I can't believe she just saw me!"_ He yelps to Matt, who laughs. _"Is she still looking?"_

"_No. She's talking to her brother again."_

"Did I freak him out?" Bella asks me.

"Yes, you did." I reply. "You really shouldn't toy with others like that."

"I'm not toying; I'm being friendly. I know what it's like to be the new kid."

"And become infatuated with the local vampires."

"Well, we're not local; it takes us over an hour to get here each day."

"Not when anyone but you drives." I smile at her. Her eyes narrow at me a bit. I was definitely hoping when she changed from human to immortal that it would speed her driving up. It has not. Driving a Ferrari as slow as she does is criminal. Instead of moving around, we've been branching out and 'commuting' to different schools. Jasper's Seattle friend really comes in handy when it comes to paperwork to prove residency.

"Some things never change." She smiles coyly at me.

"Uh-huh." I reply as the others sit down and join us. Jasper takes the seat on the other side of Bella. It's usually Jasper or Emmett that sit on her other side. If she insists on being "single" at school then they want everyone to be well aware of her brothers' constant glowering presence.

Bella's always been more self-conscious than the rest of us. While the others could care less about what everyone thinks of their personal relationships, Bella doesn't really like that. I've got all but two classes with her and those are German, which she has with Jasper and Trigonometry which she has with Emmett.

"Well Bella, you've got an interesting afternoon ahead of you." Alice announces when she sits down. I instantly see in Alice's thoughts that the new kid is going to talk to Bella in German class.

"Why's that?" Bella asks.

"Your new admirer is going to strike up a conversation with you next period." Alice smiles.

"_Are those the other brothers?"_ The new kid asks Matt.

"_Yeah."_

"_Wow…they're…not very friendly looking."_

"_Don't worry about it, bro."_ Jasper looks over at me. _"I'm on it."_

"I'm not." I smile to Jasper. And I'm not worried about it. I used to worry about her all the time, now I only worry about her half the time…probably because the other half of my time is spent worrying about my daughter.

Regardless, Bella is a little more durable now than she once was. Oh, don't get me wrong, if there's calamity to be had, it'll find Bella. Not that I won't be listening in on German class regardless. It'll be worth it just for the entertainment that Jasper will provide.

"Don't worry, Bella." Alice says. "He'll be nice."

"If by nice you mean I won't kill him…" Jasper replies and Bella rolls her eyes.

"I doubt he's that interested." She says.

"I don't." I confirm. She will never see herself for the beautiful person she's always been.

"_Why don't you listen to someone else's thoughts if it's bugging you so much?" _I smile as she jumps into my head with an arched brow. I love when she drops her shield and lets me hear her thoughts. It's always been a source of frustration for me, but at the same time, it's also forced me to perfect my people reading skills…or at least where she is concerned.

"That's just playing dirty." I smile lightly to her.

"_You're not honestly jealous, are you?"_

"No."

"_You're a prince among men for even putting up with it. I truly don't deserve you."_

"No, you deserve better."

She rolls her eyes. _"There is no one better."_

"How do you know? This guy could be." I nod my head in the new kid's direction and she laughs out loud.

"_I bet he'll run in the other direction when he finds out I'm an 18 year old mother."_

"I bet not."

"We're betting on something?" Emmett immediately perks up.

"No." Bella says.

"She thinks the new kid will lose interest." I say.

"He will if he knows what's good for him." Emmett says, glaring over in the said new kid's direction, Rosalie elbows him in the ribs. Everyone looks to Alice to see who will win.

"He's only decided to introduce himself." She shrugs.

"People are too damn friendly in this school." Jasper says. "I wish we could go to Forks again. Everyone was scared of us there."

"We have to wait until everyone there retires." Rosalie says.

"Or dies." Emmett finishes.

"Maybe we should switch things up a bit." Bella suggests.

"What do you mean?" Rosalie asks.

"Oh, you're _kidding_ me!" Alice groans.

"I'm just saying." Bella shrugs. "Maybe if we got involved in other things the schools have to offer, we wouldn't dread it so much."

"You just want to try out for a sport because you're not clumsy anymore." I chuckle to Bella.

"_I think the music department here could definitely use someone like you. You'd get to play with other people."_

"I like playing for you."

"_And Nessie."_

"And Nessie."

The bell rings and my precious time with her is up. Despite her normal protests, I walk her to German class. She says normal brothers don't usually walk their sisters to all their classes. She smiles at me and as she disappears through the doorway, throws out,

"_Love you."_

I smile as I walk to Calculus. I'm probably the only one on the planet that smiles while on their way to a Calculus class, but that's because I'll be in German.

"_Oh God, I'm sitting right next to her. I hope I don't hyperventilate."_ Maybe I should be in someone else's head for this.

Bella looks over at the new kid and practically blinds him with her warm, friendly smile. Where the hell is Jasper?

"_Hi. I'm Jack. Jack Kelly." I said my name twice! She's going to think I'm an idiot_. No, but I do.

"_I'm Bella Swan." _Cullen, I amend in my head. _"Welcome."_

"_Thanks."_

Bella turns to eye Jasper's empty seat, no doubt also wondering where he is. He's usually there by now. Just as I'm about to bounce into Alice's head, Jasper glides through the door.

"_Alice held me up."_ No doubt that was on purpose.

_Oh shit! One of her BROTHERS is in this class?_ Sorry, friend, one of her brothers is in ALL her classes.

"_Jazz, this is Jack Kelly. Jack, this is my brother Jasper."_

Jasper sits down on the other side of Bella and smiles, very widely, at Jack.

_Whoa. Okay, he's scary._ You ain't seen nothing yet, kid.

It looks like there's a sub in German today. I know this one; they just scroll the assignment on the board and stick their nose in a book.

"_Jack just moved here from…oh, where did you move from?"_ She's just so friendly. It's no wonder there's a line around the corner to date her. She doesn't even KNOW the effect she has on human males…and non-human males for that matter.

"_Tucson." _

"_Really? I'm originally from Phoenix."_

"_It's very different here."_

Jasper chuckles. Kid, you have no idea HOW different it is here. Vampires, werewolves…and those are just the mythical figures we know about.

"_You get used to the rain."_ Bella assures him.

"_What do people do for fun around here?"_

"_I wouldn't know." _Bella shrugs.

"_Oh, you don't hang out with the other kids?"_

"_No."_ Jasper turns to Jack again with a hard face. _"She doesn't."_

_Man, he is _really_ mean looking!_

"_Jazz…" _Bella mutters. _"I haven't really gotten involved in the after school stuff since we moved here, but I was thinking about it, maybe taking up some kind of sport."_

"_Like wrestling." _Jasper smiles and I chuckle then stifle it with a cough.

"_I could drop _you_ Jasper."_

"_Could not."_

_Wow. Her brother could probably snap her in two. I bet things are pretty interesting in that house._ That's an understatement. And Bella can't drop Jasper. She can, however, outwit him.

"_It wouldn't kill you to get more involved, Jazz. There's nothing wrong with making friends."_

"_Don't start, Bells."_ Jasper warns. He wouldn't take that tone with her if I were there… well, knowing Jasper he just might. Jasper seems to have filled the void that was left by Jacob when he ran off with our daughter. Well, they didn't _run off_, but he did steal her from us. But over the last decade, Jasper and Bella have formed a close relationship. You'd never know now that there was a time when Jasper actually seriously tried to kill her.

"_You and Emmett could do football. I bet he'd love that."_

"_Bro, I know you're listening…" _Jasper sends me a distress signal. _"You better put an end to this insanity later. She's starting to sound like Alice."_ Despite Alice's initial reaction at lunch, she'll probably be happy to get involved in some after school program with Bella. They're both very friendly people.

"_Football's an outdoor sport."_ Jasper tells her.

"_So, why would that…oh yeah."_ She says.

_I guess they're not really outdoorsy. _

"_We go camping and hiking on the nice sunny days."_ Bella turns to explain to the kid and give him our standard story about why no one ever sees us in the nice weather. _"Our parents like to take advantage of the nice weather like that."_ Then she turns back to Jasper. _"But there's basketball, volleyball, yes even _wrestling_, which you love. There's plenty of other things you could do."_

"_Why are you inflicting this on me?"_ Jasper demands. _"Why don't you con Edward? He's a sucker when you want something."_ This is very true.

_Huh, the other brother. He actually looks meaner than this guy._

I did? Emmett will never believe that. I can't wait to tell Jasper that. I have a feeling German is going to be terrifying tomorrow.

"_Where's your sense of adventure, Jazz?"_ Bella demands and Jasper actually laughs out loud.

_There's an interesting dynamic between these two. This is a pretty interesting family, all these foster kids. _

My eyebrows hike up my forehead. The last person who showed this kind of interest in our family was Bella. There's a reason why we don't make friends.

_There's got to be more to this story. They have the same eye color and that's a really unusual color. I mean what are the chances of that? And I've never had someone this gorgeous carry on a conversation with me for this long._

Well, this is discouraging. There are always more curious people, nobody's guessed right since Bella joined the family, but this is always the danger when we mix too closely with humans.

I finally leave the new kid's head when the conversation dies down and he spends the rest of the class thinking about my wife. There's only so long someone can listen to that. You'd think after just over a decade, I'd be used to it by now, but it still brings out my jealous streak, despite what I tell her. I could shut most of them up if I could just grab her and kiss her in the middle of the cafeteria, but she doesn't like the way people talk and I can't be the cause of that kind of distress for her.

Looks like I'm going to have to have a little chat with Alice later about Bella's new friend.

I lean up against the Volvo waiting for Bella after school. Alice and Jasper have already left for home and Emmett and Rosalie are riding with us. Trig is their last class. Since Alice already told me that Bella was going to walk out with the new kid and introduce us, I put on sunglasses. I think I can keep enough of a distance from him that he never really gets a good look at my eyes. I really don't want to wear Alice's contacts. They're so annoying and everything's so hazy in them.

Bella, Emmett and Jack are walking towards me. Jack looks apprehensive and Emmett looks proud of himself. He should be. When he got to Trig class and saw the new kid sitting next to Bella, he picked Bella up, desk and all, and moved her to his other side and sat between them. Jack didn't say a word the entire class.

But he thought a lot and Emmett terrifies him.

"_You can thank me later." _Emmett thinks as he approaches me.

Bella looks disgusted with him. Then she glares at me. "_I _know_ you saw what he did. It was incredibly unnecessary, not to mention embarrassing."_

I shrug in response to her thought and look at Jack, though he can't tell. "Who's this, Bella?"

"Edward, this is Jack Kelly. He just moved here from Tucson. Jack, this is my other brother, Edward."

"The mean one." Emmett snickers.

"Not quite." Bella smiles at Jack.

"Welcome to Washington, Jack." I nod at him. I don't offer him my hand. He doesn't seem to think anything of it like he would if he felt how ice cold my hand was.

_He doesn't look so scary now, but I changed my mind. Emmett is definitely the scary one._ _I wonder if I can change Trig?_

"Thanks. It's nice to meet you." He says as Rosalie approaches. She doesn't give Bella the chance to introduce her to Jack. She gets right into the back seat of the Volvo.

"Er…that's Rosalie." Bella says.

"She's _very_ glad to meet you." Emmett smirks and then gets in the back with Rosalie.

_Wow. All the girls look like supermodels. I wonder if it's something in the water there?_

Umm…not quite the water, Jack.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Jack." Bella smiles with a wave and I open the passenger side door for her.

"Thanks, Bella." Jack smiles. I close the door once she's inside.

Well, he's smitten. All I do is nod to Jack as I get behind the wheel of the Volvo. I pull out of the parking lot at a normal speed and instantly accelerate when I hit the road. No way this drive takes an hour. My grandmother drives faster than Bella and she's been dead 100 years.

Bella sees us coming. She whips out her cell phone and spends the rest of the ride talking to Nessie. Not that it matters, it's not like anyone in our family sleeps, so she has to face the music sooner or later. She hands me the phone as I park the car in the garage and I spend the next half hour on the phone with our daughter. It was a diversion and I know it, but I never mind talking to Renesmee.

Rosalie and Emmett head over to Rose's newest car and Alice takes Bella by the elbow when we walk through the door.

"It's not that I don't like the idea, Bella, I just don't think sports are the way to go." Alice says.

"Why?"

"What if someone accidentally gets hurt?" Alice counters.

"It's hard to argue with that." Bella concedes.

Alice looks over at me. _She's not happy, Edward. And quite frankly, I wouldn't mind some friends either._ "We'll think of something though." Alice smiles encouragingly. "It's a great idea."

Bella smiles sadly as she watches Alice dance off and I take a seat at my piano, immediately starting to play her lullaby. She smiles and walks over, joining me on the bench and dropping her head to my shoulder.

"It's not that you're not enough." She sighs.

"I don't think that."

"It's a silly idea, I guess."

"I don't know about that." I say. "But your new friend is pretty perceptive. He's already wondering how you and Jasper aren't blood related but have the same eye color."

"Was he?"

"Among other things."

"Among what things?"

"Whether or not Emmett can make him fit in his locker…oh, and I'm apparently scarier than Jasper."

She wraps her arms around me and kisses my jaw before resting her chin on my shoulder. "I'll make female friends."

"I don't feel threatened, love." I laugh.

"Do you want to be together then in the open then like the others?"

"I want you to be happy. I'll do whatever makes you happy. It's why I exist, love."

"What if I just want to make you happy?" she counters.

"Then all you have to do is be happy." I smile.

"You know, sometimes you're very frustrating with that." She pouts and I chuckle again. She puts her hand gently on my cheek and turns my face to hers. I miss kissing her during the day, but it truly feels like coming home when I finally get to do it again.

Bella is the only one on the planet who can surprise me. It's one of the many reasons I think I fell in love with her. No one else is able to do that.

"Want to go to the meadow?" she whispers kissing my jaw.

"Why don't we just go upstairs?" I counter.

"I want to be alone."

We gave Nessie our cottage when she and Jake got married and moved back into the family's house.

"The meadow it is." I, of course, give in. She takes my hand and we're out the door and through the woods in no time.

"We won't be back for dinner!" she laughs to Esme, who rolls her eyes indulgently at us.

I grab her on my back as we jump through the trees. She's a fast enough runner, but I like the way she clutches onto me when I run and the absolute trust she's always had in me to be there.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

When we arrive at school the next morning, Alice and Bella have a newfound purpose, much to our dread. They know our stories, they'll stick to them. They'll never risk exposure, but the rest of us aren't particularly looking forward to all that comes with Alice having friends, i.e., graduation parties and all that stuff. Luckily, we don't have to worry about that until next year though.

Alice links arms with Bella and they start across the parking lot. They are intercepted by Jack Kelly.

"_Hi Bella!"_

"_Oh, good morning, Jack. Jack, this is my sister Alice."_

"_It's very nice to meet you." Alice chimes. _

_Wow, she's pretty too. How do these guys live with all these hot girls?_

"_Um…you too." _Jack sputters. _Geez, I thought it would be easier to talk to her today. What is it about her? _

"_We'll see you later, Jack." _Alice smiles. _"I really look forward to getting to know you! Welcome to Washington!"_

_Bizarre._ Jack thinks as he watches them walk away arm and arm. Rosalie and Emmett brush by him.

"Umm…hi." He greets Jasper and I nervously.

"Hello." I smile; Jasper says nothing. If this is someone Bella thinks she likes, and Alice has seen that she will, then I will be nice.

"Well…I guess…"

"You're welcome to walk with us." I say and Jasper groans.

"Oh, uh, okay." _Yeah because they're not _too_ intimidating or anything._ I suppose I should work on not freaking out Bella's new friend. I'll let Jasper and Emmett be the unreasonable ones.

"So, how are you finding Washington?" I ask.

"The people seem nice." He shrugs. I'm sure one in particular.

"Yes, Bella is very friendly." I confirm.

_Ooh…it doesn't sound like this is going to go in a good direction._

"Yes, she seems very nice." He says. "So, I understand you're all relatively new?"

"Not to Washington." I say. "But we transferred to this school last year."

"Bella said she doesn't really hang out with the other kids."

"She's interested in changing that." I allow.

_Oh, really? Well, that's good news._

"But she doesn't date." I amend quickly.

_Geez, these brothers are really protective._

"Oh, did she have a bad experience with someone?"

_I can't imagine being on the business end of these three. I wonder how long the guy was in the hospital for?_

"No." I say simply. "It's not like that. But she has no interest in dating and so we protect her wishes. You understand."

"Fervently protect her wishes, you meant to say." Jasper adds.

"Well," I smile easily with a glance at Jasper. "Some are more fervent than others. But I know what people say about us." Intimately unfortunately. "And as long as she wants to be your friend, you'll have no problems from us."

_God, what do I say to that? Thank you? Was this the look but don't touch speech? I wonder if she even knows they do this. Maybe it's not that she's not interested in dating, maybe potential boyfriends are intercepted. Do I_, _like, _have_ to be her friend now because if I don't I'll be road kill? I wonder if Matt got this talk when he asked her out._

As we approach the school, Bella and Alice are there.

_What did you say to him?_ Alice demands and I shrug. _If you've scared off our first friend, so help me…_

Jasper takes Alice's hand and leads her into the building.

"So, I'll see you later, Bella." Jack says.

"You don't want to walk with us?" she asks.

"Oh, it's okay." He stumbles and glances at me. _I think I need a few minutes to collect myself, but I can't very well say that._ "I'll see you in German later."

"Okay."

As soon as he walks away she spins on me. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"I walked from the car to the door."

"While saying…"

"You may want to be _his _friend, Bella, but he's a teenage boy and they don't think like that."

"So you scared him off."

"Not completely, no." She sighs and looks at me. "What?"

I get a glare for my troubles as we walk along to American History.

"I'm never going to have friends if that's what you're going to do."

"Bella, what do you have in common with these people?"

"High school." She replies as we enter our classroom.

"See, I knew you'd outgrow me one day."

She snaps her head to mine and slams her books down on the desk.

Uh-oh.

Then yelling begins.

"_You idiot! How can you possibly go there! For someone with four college degrees and TWO post-graduates, you really are a nitwit sometimes! I TOLD you this wasn't about that! The decision to spend eternity with someone wasn't exactly something I took lightly! After all I had to fight you for it…"_

"All right, all right." Sometimes I wish she never figured that shield out. Then she reaches out and actually hits me in the head. It hurts. "Ow!"

Sara Daniels looks back at us and arches her eyebrows. "Boys." Bella smiles. "Aren't brothers the worst?"

"I have two." She replies.

"I have three; you're welcome to take one off my hands."

Sara looks over at me.

"_I know exactly which one I'd pick." _

I look back at Bella. "You don't need to get violent."

"That wasn't violent." She huffs.

I drop my head to my fist and smile at her. Dazzling is what she calls it. "I'm very sorry I upset you." I say quietly. Sara's trying not to listen, but when I use this particular voice, my 'Bella voice' as Alice calls it, female humans get drawn in. It is, after all, why I _have_ this voice.

"About _which_ thing?"

"About what I just said to you."

"What about what you said to Jack?"

"You don't know what I said to Jack."

"Whatever it was, it made him not want to walk with me."

"How do you know it isn't what Jasper said to him?" I counter.

"_Is_ it what Jasper said to him?"

"Not entirely, no."

"_Edward."_ She pleads. "_Try to understand."_

"I told you whatever you want."

Sara glances back over her shoulder. _"I wonder if he's that accommodating of his girlfriends?"_

"_Whatever_ I want?" Bella asks perking up. At times like this I wish I had Alice's gift…or that Bella didn't have the shield.

"You know it depends. I'm not going to tolerate anything dangerous."

"The music program is hardly dangerous."

"Bella," I sigh. "This is yours and Alice's thing. It's not as important to the rest of us."

"So, Alice and I are just going to do our thing and you're going to, what?"

"Probably drive home." I shrug.

"Oh."

"Do you want me to stay after school too?" I ask sitting back up and leaning towards her.

She shakes her head and looks down. "No, what would you do? You'd be bored. We haven't even figured out what we're going to do."

"I'll stay for you."

"What are you going to do?"

"Wait." I shrug again. "It's just time."

"_Aw! How sweet is that? He's such a nice brother!"_ Sara is practically squealing.

The teacher comes in and Bella smiles and looks down. If she were human, she'd blush, but since she's not, I just conjure the memory in my head.

"Okay. I don't want to do anything academic." Alice says at lunch. She pulls out two school program catalogs and hands one to Bella. "But if we're limited to inside, and I _really_ don't think sports are a good idea…"

"No, you're definitely right about that." Bella murmurs flipping through the book.

"What's wrong with the nerdy kids?" Emmett asks.

"Nothing." Bella says.

"Says one with a 4.0." Rosalie jumps in.

"That's because I've memorized every high school class out there." Emmett replies.

"Oh yeah?" Rosalie asks. "Are you ever going to take Women's Literature?"

"That class isn't about what I thought it might be. No." Emmett smirks.

"Hey Rosalie," Bella says. "There's an automotive program."

"Is there really?" Rosalie asks truly interested. "I don't really care about the friend thing, but the car part would be cool."

"Some hot, perfect looking blonde chic comes in and blows them all out of the water, that'll be fun to watch, Babe." Emmett says. "You can soup up all these old beaters."

"Theatre?" Bella looks up and asks Alice.

"Maybe they'll do Dracula." Alice laughs.

"I could be Mina." Bella smiles.

"Who kisses Jonathan? I don't think so." I reply.

"She also kisses Dracula." She smiles coyly.

"Didn't I say I wouldn't tolerate anything dangerous?"

"How is theatre dangerous?" she challenges.

"It will be for whoever you kiss."

"Backstage then." Alice nods. She purses her lips and closes her eyes for a minute. When she opens them, she looks at Bella. "Absolutely. Set building and all that."

"Not on stage?"

"No, the lights will be too bright."

"Ah." Bella nods. "You'd have a blast with the costuming."

Alice's eyes go wide and a large smile spreads across her face. "I'm going to be so good at that! Let's go down to the front office and see how we register." They get up, talking much too fast for human ears and leave the cafeteria.

"Okay, so I'll see you later." Jasper calls out.

"We're going to have to go see whatever it is they do." Emmett says sweeping his hand towards the door.

"That's how it normally works." I reply.

"I think I'll be the unsupportive brother."

"Good luck with that." I say as Rosalie stands up with the course catalog Bella left behind.

"Where are you going, Babe?" Emmett asks.

"I'm going to see if I can transfer into the automotive program." She murmurs. She leans down, kisses his temple and squeezes his shoulder. Then she too leaves the cafeteria.

Emmett, Jasper and I look at each other.

"Well, here's a first." Emmett laughs.

"I guess they finally got bored." Jasper smiles.

"Why aren't we bored?" I ask.

"It's not that we're not bored; it's that we don't care as much." Emmett replies. I push back my chair and stand up. "Where are you going?"

"Down to the office."

"_Why?"_

"To wait for Bella." I shrug. Why does he _think_ I'm going down there? Emmett shrugs and Jasper shows no interest in moving either, so I head out of the cafeteria. It's not really my favorite place to be anyway, all those voices in my head get annoying.

I see the girls through the glass wall, so I lean up against the opposite wall to wait and shove my hands in my pockets. I've been practicing all these human mannerisms so long now that I almost don't have to think about it anymore, ironically enough.

"_Oh my God, he's hot!"_ I look up to see Sara Daniels leave the office. _"Look at those arms!"_

"Sara." I smile with a nod of my head.

"_Holy crap! He knows my name? Good. Sign."_

"Um…hi, Edward. Shouldn't you be in lunch?" _Not that I have your schedule memorized or anything._

"I'm waiting for my sisters." I say gesturing to the office behind her.

_Lucky sisters._

"Are they dropping classes?" she asks. _"Bella seems nice and all, but she takes up all his attention in American History."_

Not that I'm supposed to be doing anything _else_ during that class, of course.

"No; they're considering adding extracurricular activities."

"Oh really? Like what?"

"Theatre."

"Oh, I'm in theatre! I'd love to show her around." She wants Bella to drop American History but she's okay with adding her in somewhere else?

"_Maybe if I got to know her better and we hung out, I could get to know _him_ better."_

Yes, the way to get to the boy is through the sister. I can't blame Sara; she has no concept of eternity. I wonder if she's met the new kid.

Bella and Alice emerge from the office smiling triumphantly. "I take it, it's all set then?" I smile to Bella.

"Yes." She smiles back.

"Um, Bella, Edward says you're going to join the theatre group?" Sara asks and Bella looks surprised.

"Yes, Alice and I are."

"If you want to meet me in the auditorium after school, I'd love to show you both around."

"Oh, that would be great." Bella smiles and then looks at me. "That's okay?"

"I'll wait to drive you two home." I nod.

"_What. A. Great. Guy. Everyone always says if you want to know what kind of boyfriend a guy will be, look at how he treats his sister and mother."_

"What's taking Rose so long?"

"She's trying to convince them that a girl can too take auto shop." Alice laughs.

"_Oh my God! _She_ is going to take _auto shop?_ She's not afraid of breaking a nail or getting dirty? Why on Earth would somebody like that want to play around with greasy cars?"_

I sigh and look at Alice. "Should I wait around to help her out?"

"No." Alice replies. "I think she'll persuade them to see it her way." _In about two minutes, she's going to just turn on the charm real thick._

I turn back to Sara and smile. "Thank you, Sara, for taking Bella and Alice under your wing. I really appreciate it."

"_Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"_

"You're welcome!" She smiles real big. "It's my pleasure, really."

"_Oh, ple-eese!"_ Alice's voice chimes in my head. _"If she wasn't actually going to become our friend, I don't think I could stand here and listen to her gush."_

Rosalie emerges from the office with a very big smile spread across her face. _"Ha!"_ She turns and walks away without a word.

"_Well, she's….warm."_ Sara thinks as she watches Rosalie saunter off. Girls are frequently flummoxed by Rosalie. She's just so beautiful that it brings out their natural human jealousies. Bella thinks she pales in comparison to Rosalie when really it's the other way around. Rosalie is beautiful on the outside; but Bella is beautiful on the outside and the inside whereas Rosalie's beauty is only skin deep.

The bell rings and Sara says goodbye and hurries off.

"_Made a new friend, did you?" _Bella looks at me with interest and I smile at her apparent jealousy.

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"_She's awfully…perky."_

"I came over here to wait for you and she was already in there. I didn't go looking for her."

"_You tend to find all your people very much by accident."_

"Literally in your case."

"_Ha. Ha."_

"You know we're walking down the hall and it looks like I'm talking to myself."

"_Yes. The girls will stay away if they think you're crazy."_

"Hearing voices in my head doesn't constitute crazy?"

Alice rushes ahead as she sees Jasper make it to the door of their German classroom and Bella and I slow down.

"You're not honestly jealous, are you, love?" I toss her words from yesterday back at her.

"_Sooner or later you'll find someone prettier than me, you'll see."_

"And then forever will come to an end?"

"_My forever will."_

"One of these decades you'll truly realize just how impossible that is."

"Now you make it sound like a jail sentence."

"What do you think it means to be eternally damned?"

"Bella! Sich beeilen! Schneller werden beeil Dich! Mach schnell!" Jasper says in flawless German.

"Keep your pants on." Bella mutters. She's as reluctant to leave me as I am her. Jasper disappears into the classroom.

I drop the volume of my voice so only she can hear. "You are my forever." I say, then smile and ruffle her hair.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: Not mine; no copyright infringement intended.**_

_**Special thanks to my beta and pseudo-beta! I really appreciate it!**_

_**Thanks for the reviews. Keep them coming! This may or may not be where I start to suspend my imagination a little bit and toy around…**_

3. 

The same melody has been playing in my head for hours. There's a bridge I can't seem to grasp, but it seems almost as if it's a sequel to Bella's lullaby. It crescendos into a more aggressive progression and then slows again. As I wait for Alice and Bella in the back row of the auditorium, I've been trying to figure it out and write it out in my black leather bound journal.

A student I don't know is on the stage pointing things out to Bella and, it turns out, to Jack Kelly as well. Apparently, he was a Thespian in his old school. Isn't that lucky for us? Sara has taken Alice aside, under the pretense of showing her the costume bins under the stage, but once out of earshot of Bella, or so Sara thinks, she starts asking her questions about me.

"_So your brother's nice to wait around for you guys. Couldn't he have left with the others?" _Sara asks.

"_I suppose." _Alice says.

"_My brothers would never do that for me."_

"_I'm not sure Emmett would." _Alice chuckles and I smile, because it's true_. _

"_Well, he'll make some girl over the moon."_

"_He already does." _ Alice replies and I glance up, incredibly interested in what she's going to say now.

"_Oh…he's seeing someone?" This sucks! I haven't seen him with anyone. I guess she doesn't go to this school?_

"_Yes, she's older than him." _Well, that's true and not true at the same time. In human years, Bella's got just under two years on me. In vampire years, I've got her smoked by a nearly a century.

"_And it's serious?"_ Sara frowns. She's devastated. I really should introduce her again to the new kid.

"_Very." _Alice nods solemnly. "_Ever_y _minute they're not in school, they're together."_

"_I imagine she wouldn't be too happy then to find out he's here when he could be with her."_

"_He's waiting because she's got something going on now too, so he might as well stick around. We're a very close family."_

"_You're very lucky."_ Sara says sadly. _I wish my brothers cared half as much as these guys do._

"_We are." _Alice smiles.

Well, I guess Alice took care of any flirting Sara planned on doing. Alice is pretty good about explaining things to people while staying as close to the truth as possible.

Then, Alice gasps. I look up at her sharply and see what is about to transpire the split second it happens. I watch, frozen, quite literally, in my spot.

"Oh crap! Look out!" comes a voice from the catwalk over the stage.

Bella and Jack look up to see a stage light hurling towards them from above. The light _should_ have hit Jack right in the head, probably crushing his skull in. But as it turns out, it changes course about a foot above his head and falls off to the side crashing against the stage with heavy force.

"_Oh my God!"_ Alice thinks and shoots a look over to me. I'm scanning Bella. She appears okay, but she looks absolutely horrified. Her eyes shoot to mine and lock there.

"_Oh my God, Edward! What have I done?"_ she's panicking now. What she did was very probably save Jack's life by throwing her shield out over him. But how we're going to explain that, I just don't know, especially since we didn't know her shield was capable of this kind of protection.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" calls the voice from above. "It slipped out of my hands. Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah." Jack says.

"That was _so_ close!" Alice says moving to their side, as I do, at the fastest human pace possible.

"Are you all right?" I ask Bella softly. She nods and continues to look at me in shock. "It's okay."

"Wow! That'll get your heart going!" Alice chuckles. Or not, in some of our cases.

"That was so nuts!" calls the boy from the catwalk now rushing across the stage towards us. "It looked like it hit something and bounced off to the side."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense." Alice says. "What could it have hit?" _And how the hell did it even happen! Why isn't he dead? Since when does the shield work like _that_?_

"I'm telling you, it was headed straight for them!" the kid says.

"I thought I was a goner for sure." Jack nods. "It looked like it was coming right at me."

"_Why didn't I just push him out of way?"_ Bella looks at me and I put my arm around her and pull her to my side, rubbing her upper arm.

"_God, what a great brother. Why does he have to have a girlfriend? Look how much he cares about his sister!"_ Sara's gushing again.

"Okay, but as you can see," Alice says gesturing above us to the empty space. "There's nothing there. What do you suggest it hit?"

"I don't know." The kid gets defensive. "I'm just saying it was going straight and then all the sudden it shot out to the side."

"Well, I don't know how it could have done that." Alice says picking up the broken light. "It's pretty heavy. It's not like a breeze could have caught it."

"I know what I saw." The kid insists.

"Billy, what difference does it make?" Sara sighs frustrated. _C'mon already! You obviously weren't paying too close attention or you wouldn't have let the light slip!_

"I don't want everyone to think I'm crazy!"

"Nobody thinks you're crazy." Alice says soothingly.

Yeah, that's because three of us know exactly what happened.

"It sure sounds like it." Billy scoffs.

"Well we don't!" Sara snaps. "Let's just go down to the office and report the damage to the stage."

"Great." Billy mutters, but now he's worried about getting in trouble as he and Sara walk away.

"Are you all right?" Jack asks Bella. _Wow, she looks really freaked out._ Bella just nods her head. "That was really close huh?" Bella chuckles slightly and smiles a bit. "Gets the blood pumping, doesn't it?" She looks at him like he's crazy.

"Guess that's it for today." Alice says and looks at me. _I _really_ think Bella needs to go home now. She's barely holding it together._ I'm fully aware of that. She's not the only one.

"I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." Jack says. As we turn to walk away, I see him look up at the catwalk for a moment and then down at the light, trying to figure out the angles.

"Okay!" Alice says cheerily. I pull Bella along with me and Alice helps me grab all our stuff. Bella is silent as we walk to the car and once inside she turns and looks out the window as we drive. I meet Alice's eyes in the rearview mirror and she shrugs.

"Talk to me, Bella." I say looking over at her. She closes her eyes a moment and shakes her head, then continues to look out the window.

"It's all right, Bella." Alice attempts. "You did what any of us would have done." Bella looks slowly back at Alice and arches a brow at her.

"Well, _I've_ done it." I remind her, but she just looks back out the window. I wouldn't say I'm really _getting_ worried because I've been worried since she met my eyes after the light fell, but now I'm getting freaked out.

Alice meets my gaze in the mirror then. _"I have no idea."_ She answers my unspoken question. _"She's not making any decisions. I have no idea what she's thinking either."_

The car ride passes in silence. Alice doesn't try to placate Bella again and Bella looks nowhere but out the window. I swing into my spot in the garage and Bella's out of the car as soon as it's in park.

"I'll tell them what happened." Alice promises quietly. "She's going to your meadow."

"Thanks." I say and follow behind Bella. She's not running, just marching purposefully ahead. It's impossible for her not to know I'm behind her, but she doesn't turn around or say a word until we finally make it our meadow.

She stops and I close the distance, hugging her tightly to my chest. She sobs against me, or our version of sobbing since it's impossible for her to shed actual tears. I close my eyes and rest my head against hers, rubbing her back. I don't understand why she's so upset.

"I can't believe I did something like that!" she says frustrated.

"Bella, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be."

"I slipped up!"

"No, _I_ slipped up with you. You just saved his life. Alice covered it beautifully. They think it was weird, but nobody's suspicious."

"You saved me out of love, Edward; I did it strictly out of reflex. What happens when I reflexively do it again with a much more public audience? How was I able to do that in the first place? What else can I do that could expose us?"

"That's not what this was."

"What happens if he asks questions? Are Rosalie and Jasper going to want to kill him like they did me?"

"Who told you that?" I ask darkly.

"It doesn't matter; that's not the point. The point is you exposed everyone and they wanted to fix it, but you wouldn't let them out of love for me."

"Bella, I ran across a parking lot and pushed a van out of the way. You didn't do anything remotely like that."

"I'm so sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, love. There's not."

"Will the others think so?" she whispers.

"Yes." I promise. Because I'll make them. "Let's go back to the house. I'm sure Alice filled them in."

She looks reluctant, but takes my hand anyway. When we get back to the house and go inside, everyone is in the living room. But they're not exactly waiting for us, at least, they're trying not to make it look that way. Alice is at her computers; Jasper and Emmett are at their chess boards, Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie are on the couch watching t.v.

"Did you tell them?" Bella asks Alice.

"Yes." She replies.

"I fight not to expose us every day, Bella." Jasper says. "At least you weren't gory about it."

"If it happened the way Alice said, Bella, then there's nothing to worry about." Esme smiles at her.

"What if it's something bigger the next time? What if there just _is_ a next time?" Bella asks.

"It happens to me all the time, Bella." Carlisle says. "My extra-sharp sensory perceptions and skills enable me to save people all the time. You haven't exposed anything."

I wrap my arms around her from behind, linking my fingers over her stomach. "It's what separates us from the real monsters." I say quietly against her ear. I can see she feels better now that no one is yelling at her, but I think only time will make her get over it. She's afraid she'll put us in danger, but we're _all _afraid of that and I've actually done it.

"I think we're missing the broader issue here." Emmett says and everyone looks over at him. "Bella's shield has _changed_. It physically protected someone. She's never done that before. Has it always done that and she's just learning how to work it, or is it new? Will it do it again? How much can it withstand?"

"Why don't we give Bella a little while to calm down before we start analyzing everything." Carlisle suggests. _I think she could use a few minutes, Edward._

She nods to them and breaks away and heads upstairs. _"She'll be okay."_ I hear Alice think.

"_I'm taking auto shop. I think that'll raise more questions." _Rosalie smirks. I chuckle in response to that and then head upstairs after Bella.

She's in our room, curled up on the bed, a very human reaction when someone is hurting. She reaches out her hand and I cross over and sit down next to her, entwining our fingers.

"You really are taking this harder than you should be." I say.

"I feel like I disappointed you." She whispers.

"Why on Earth would you think that?" I demand. How could she think that she ever has or ever could be a disappointment to me?

"I've always tried so hard not to make you regret the decision to change me."

"There's one thing in our entire relationship I regret, Bella, and it's not that."

"What is it?"

"Leaving you."

"You made up for that." She smiles.

"I'll _never_ make up for that." My voice is harsher than intended, but that's because this is a wound that will never heal for me. "You have always exceeded all our expectations and we've learned so much from your change. Look how much better Jasper does; simply from watching you and adopting your outlook on everything. And now we're finding out that your talent has _improved,_ something we weren't sure was possible." And which is slightly terrifying, too. Who else can improve their talents? Aro? Jane?

"I didn't interfere with fate?"

"Not anymore than I did with you, love." I shrug. "Perhaps we were simply in the right place at the right time. Maybe we're the tools of fate."

"Yeah?" she smiles softly at me.

"You're like Carlisle, Bella. You can't stand to see people suffer and you've found a way to keep your humanity. I am proud, humbled, and envious of you."

"And you're not disappointed in me?"

"Quite the opposite." I smile and bend forward to kiss her. "Jacob's pulling up the driveway."

Her face lights up for her best friend and son-in-law as she bounds off the bed and down the stairs. We make it to the living room as Jacob walks through the front door.

"Call the dog catcher; we have a stray." Rosalie groans. She tolerates him more for Nessie's sake, but those two will never get along. She's surprised though when he tosses a set of car keys at her.

"Can't figure out what's wrong with it." He says and when I look out to the driveway, I see that it's Nessie's Audi out there. "I've been all over it for days."

Rosalie arches an interested eyebrow, but heads outside anyway, followed by Emmett. Emmett loves watching her work on cars. Jacob drops down on the couch, stretches his arms along the back and looks at all of us. "What?"

"Bella saved someone's life today." Carlisle says, letting his pride show.

"Really?" Jake asks looking over at Bella in interest. "What'd you do?"

"A stage light was falling towards a kid and she threw her shield out. Apparently she can block physical objects now."

"It was careless." Bella whispers.

"It was quick thinking." I counter.

"Bells, no one's been worse off for having known you, that's for sure." Jacob replies. "Most of all me." I'd disagree with that second part.

"That's very sweet of you, Jake." She smiles.

Jake shrugs. "I don't suppose there's food lurking around here."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: Not mine; no copyright infringement intended.**_

_**For some reason, whatever I use for a break isn't showing up. It's getting annoying.**_

{I}{I}{I}{I}{I}{I}{I}\

4.

"_I mean, she got that old Mustang working and Mr. Keller says it hasn't run in 15 years. It was just like a learning car, but she made it purr!"_

"_I swear, when I saw her walk in the room I thought it was some kind of joke."_

"_Yeah, I thought Mr. Keller was going to throw her out."_

"_Not with that boyfriend there. Glad he left after she started the car."_

Rosalie is all the talk today. She's walking around looking so smug, you'd think she was just crowned Miss America. Nobody knows what to make of her. Boys don't know whether to be impressed or scared; and girls are falling on their default catty attitudes that they tend to adopt when one specific girl gets more attention than them. She had Nessie's car fixed in 15 minutes.

"_You know, my car's acting up. I wonder if she'd look at it for me. I bet she can fix it."_

"_She's got that really nice BMW. I wonder if she races." _

"_I wonder if her boyfriend feels weird that she can do things like that."_

For the record, no.

Sara Daniels sits down across from Bella and I at our lab table with her lab partner, Megan. Bella's a little more upbeat today, but I can tell she's still upset about yesterday. I think the Rosalie hoopla is helping her take her mind off it all.

"Is it true your sister got a car to start that hasn't worked in 15 years?" Sara asks; Megan's eyes go wide. They've never really spoken to us in class before.

"I haven't talked to her yet, but that sounds like Rosalie." I say.

"She doesn't really seem like the grease monkey type."

"Looks can be deceiving." Bella replies. "Things aren't always what they seem."

"It certainly seems so." Sara says. _Oh, I hope I didn't offend her. _

"Rosalie loves tinkering with cars." I explain. "She loves figuring out how things work. She spends almost all of her free time experimenting on our cars at home."

"Does she freelance?" Sara asks. "I've got a Bug with an oil leak somewhere that no one can find."

"I'll ask." I smile. "She loves a challenge."

"_Crap! Dammit, I don't even _own_ a car. Now Sara's gonna get to go to his house?"_ Megan's protest is very loud. At least to me.

"I could give you a ride home later, Bella, after set tech." Sara offers hopefully.

"That's very nice." Bella smiles. "We don't really live around here though. We go to this school because our mother works for the system."

"Oh that's okay." Sara says. "It's worth the drive if she can figure out where the leak is before my engine seizes."

Bella looks over at me. _"What do you think?"_

"Do you have room in your car for Alice, too?" I ask with a smile. "She'll be with Bella."

"Of course," Sara nods. "Well, once I clean all the crap off the seat."

I chuckle politely and look back at Bella. I can tell she's a little apprehensive, but we've had humans at our house plenty of times. Everyone will play their parts well.

"If you think it's okay…" Bella trails off looking at me for permission.

"Mom and Dad won't mind." I assure her.

"All right." Bella says. "We'll just check with Rosalie. I'm sure she'd love to look at your car for you though."

"Great!" Sara smiles.

"_Unbelievable!"_ Megan seethes. _"She's just falling all over them! I mean, it's so obvious she's crushing on him and she even said he had a serious girlfriend."_

Sara and Megan don't talk to us the rest of the lab. Sara can sense Megan's annoyance, so she tries overly hard to placate her friend, but in the end, decides Megan can stew over it. Bella and I have, of course, done this lab numerous times before and blow right through it.

Bella pretends to be reading ahead in the textbook and I pull out my black journal to continue puzzling out the song I was working on yesterday.

"_What's that?"_

I look over at her and slide it her way a bit so she can see.

"_A new song?"_

"Sort of."

"_It's sort of a song?"_

"Well, that too, but it's sort of a continuation of the lullaby." I'm speaking too softly to draw anyone's attention and, well, Bella's not speaking at all.

"_Really?"_ she smiles at me. _"Do I get to hear it?"_

"Of course." I reply. "When you get home later."

"_There's a piano in the auditorium."_

"Nice try."

"_Damn."_

I chuckle and look back down to my book as she pouts next to me.

"_He's so cute when he smiles!"_ Sara's still going on. This is really starting to get annoying…and embarrassing. I'm glad Bella can't hear all this.

"Sara, my brother's an amazing piano player." Bella suddenly gushes. "He'll play for us later; wait till you hear."

"_He plays the piano! How hot is that!"_

"Oh really? I love the piano!" She smiles. Of course she does. I look up at my wife with a dropped jaw.

"What?" she asks innocently.

"You threw me under the bus."

She shrugs. "Serves you right."

The bell rings and Megan bolts from class, fuming about Sara getting her hooks into me. I look over at Bella, who's still giving me the innocent look. "Let's go to lunch, Brutus."

{I}{I}{I}{I}{I}{I}{I}

As I hear Sara's thoughts coming down the driveway, I head outside to meet them. Rosalie strolls out of the garage, having already agreed to look at Sara's car for her.

"Just leave it running." Rosalie instructs as Sara pulls to a stop.

"_Oh my God, these people are _loaded_!" _Sara is wide-eyed as she gets out of the car.

"Umm, thank you, very much." Sara says to Rosalie.

"It shouldn't take too long." Rosalie says. _God, no one can find this leak? It's not obvious just by the way it sounds? Humans…_

"How was the manual labor, ladies?" I ask leaning up against the railing.

"Well, the ceiling didn't cave in, so I think it went well." Alice shrugs.

"This house is amazing!"

"There are a lot of us here." Bella says as we walk through the front door and are immediately greeted by Esme.

"Sara, it's so nice to meet you!" she gushes. "My husband is working this afternoon, or he'd be here to greet you."

"_Wow, she's so young looking. But I guess that makes sense because they're foster kids."_

"Oh, thank you. You have a beautiful home. It was very nice of Rosalie to agree to look at my car."

"She was thrilled you asked." Esme smiles.

"_Really? She didn't really look it, but okay."_

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" Esme offers.

"Oh, no thank you." Sara politely declines.

"I'll show you around some of the house." Alice offers with a big smile.

I wait until Sara's out of sight before kissing Bella hello. "Did you have fun this afternoon?"

"I think Alice and I are getting the hang of it." She says. "Thank you for being supportive about it."

"What else would I be?"

"You haven't _always_ been supportive of things I've wanted to do."

"That was when you were a fragile human wanting to do dangerous things." I counter.

"And I needed my big, bad, hot vampire boyfriend to take care of me." She smiles. "I have to tell you, Sara's quite taken with you."

"I have to confess, I'm well aware of that."

"I bet you are." She laughs.

"Not because I want to be."

"I know that." She says. "I wonder why I can turn my shield on and off, but you can't do that with yours."

"I don't know, but it's incredibly annoying."

"How hard have you tried?"

"Hard."

"Really?"

"What do you think I've been doing for 100 years?"

"Waiting for me."

"I mean other than that."

"I don't know; I don't actually like to think about it."

"Do you prefer to think my life started when you entered it?"

"Maybe." She shrugs, embarrassed to have been caught.

"It did, you know."

"I know the feeling."

We stand there a moment smiling at each other when I hear Alice loudly showing Sara around the ground floor and then the downstairs of the house.

"What'd you do this afternoon?" Bella asks reaching out and taking my hand.

"Worked on your song." I shrug.

"Can I hear it?"

I glance towards the kitchen and Bella reads my reaction perfectly. "Do you really not want her to hear you play?" she asks.

"Maybe not that." I confess, looking down at our linked hands. For some reason, though the others have heard it, I like that it's just for her.

"Okay." She breaks away from me and moves to sit down on the couch and starts flipping channels on the T.V. She stretches out and I drop down by her head. It looks perfectly natural when Alice reenters in a little while with Sara, just as Rosalie comes through the front door and tosses her keys at her.

"All set."

"Already?" Sara gapes at her.

"Piece of cake." Rosalie says. _"Amateur stuff!"_

"Um, do you want anything for it?"

"No." Rosalie answers. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"_I can't believe she fixed it!"_

"Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it." Sara says and she genuinely means it. _"Damn, I was hoping it would take longer though."_ She looks over at me and Bella on the couch and smiles. "I guess I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Thanks for the ride." Bella smiles and waves.

"Are you okay finding your way out of here?" I ask politely.

"I've got a GPS; I think I'll be all right." She says reluctantly.

She waves goodbye and disappears outside. As soon as we hear her engine purr, Bella looks over at me. "_Now_ can I hear my song?"

"Yes, love." I laugh. "Now you can hear your song."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: Not mine; no copyright infringement intended.**_

_**Thanks to my beta!**_

_**A/N: I'm also writing another story right now with the working title of Numbers and it's eating up my muse at the moment, so I'm sorry for the slow posting on this.**_

5.

I realize that I'm obsessed with my wife's day and what she's up to. I'd feel bad about this, but quite frankly, she's always been the same way.

Though that's a little disconcerting right now. I tune into Emmett's head in Trig just in time to hear,

"_Bells, shield me."_

"_What?" _She looks surprised.

"_Shield me now and keep me shielded the entire class."_

"_Why?"_

Why? There's only one reason why. Emmett doesn't want me to hear what he's going to talk or think about. That rat.

"_Humor me."_ He says. And then it all goes black. As I predict, when I jump into the kid's head behind Emmett, he and Bella aren't speaking loud enough for the human ears, or my gift to hear.

Now, I'm very annoyed. What's going on? It's never a good sign when someone intentionally tries to keep me out. Well, Emmett would never put Bella in danger, so I guess I have to trust him…for the moment.

But it's a long class, let me tell you. I give the others as much privacy as I'm physically able to muster, but when it comes down to it, I'm not comfortable not knowing what's going on. It was so incredibly hard to adjust to that when I met Bella. As annoying as all the voices are, it's strange when one is unaccounted for.

Neither one of them is at all surprised to see me immediately after the bell rings.

"Don't freak out." Emmett says. "I didn't want you charging the classroom or anything."

I make an exaggerated show of looking away from him to Bella for answers.

"He wants to throw things at me." She says dryly by way of explanation, with a glare at him for effect.

"I'm sorry, you want to _what_?" I ask him with a growl.

"Edward, think about it." He begins.

"No, I don't think I will."

"Just listen for a minute." He insists. "Her shield has changed. It doesn't do what we thought it did, it does _more_. It's stronger than we thought. Who and what does it keep out? How many people can be covered by the physical shield? Is it as strong as the mental one? What size object does it stop?"

"_That's_ where I'm not on board."

But he stops me with one word: "Demetri?" My eyes narrow at him.

"If this works the way it looks like it works, the way that I _hope_ that it works, they'll never be able to touch us and neither will anyone else. Between you, Alice and Bella, we will be untouchable and in some cases, unstoppable."

"We're not mounting an army, Emmett." I point out.

"I know we aren't. But if we ever had to go against newborns again or anyone else? You know she's the first target for anyone that knows us, especially the Volturi. Edward, it would be irresponsible not to know what it does. You're the one who's convinced talents improve over time."

I look over at her again thoughtfully. Is what Emmett is alluding to possible? Could it be that Bella is quite possibly the most talented vampire in existence?

"I can't be part of it." I say finally. I couldn't look at her as someone to attack when she wanted to learn to fight and I can't take aim and throw a heavy object at her now either.

"You don't have to be." Emmett says. "Jasper and I taught her how to fight; we'll take care of this. And we'll make sure she's protected and doesn't get hurt."

"Eleazar thought it was just a mental shield. He's pretty accurate." I realize I'm grasping at straws now.

"But if it's manifesting itself into something like Renata's?" Emmett counters. "Eleazar said he's never seen anything like her." He's ready for me. He knows it; I know it. It's why he wanted the shield for the entire last class. He had to think everything completely through.

"If that's the case, then she can only redirect people's thoughts, not blunt objects. If you drive a car at her, you're going to run her over." I try not to vomit at that thought - not that I could anyway - and I continue to argue. "Renata diverts people's intentions; she makes them go in a different direction."

"And she can only do it by touching the intended target." Emmett says. "If Bella can project it…"

"It's not that I don't understand your argument, Emmett. I just don't want her in danger."

"Tell him, Bells." Emmett finally pleads with her frustrated.

"Emmett, I said I'd go with whatever Edward decides." She says softly.

I must admit, I'm a little surprised by that. Bella's usually desperate to do anything in her power to protect the people she loves, even though she's never found herself worthy of being protected herself.

"I swear to God, Em, if she comes home with so much as messed up hair…"

"She's our sister, Edward; we're not going to let anything bad happen to her." He says as we get to the car where Rosalie, Jasper and Alice are already waiting. "Jazz, call Jake, we're good."

"Jake!" I yelp.

"Don't you want to know if it works on humans and wolves, too?" Emmett counters.

I let out a growl of frustration and throw myself into the car, slamming the door as hard as I can without danger of it breaking off its hinges. Only Bella gets in with me; everyone else wisely climbs into Emmett's Jeep, which tears right off.

"Just wait a minute." Bella says softly. She puts her hand over mine on the gear shift. I lean forward and rest my head against the steering wheel.

"The very thought…" I say.

"Then say no."

"We have to test it; we need to know." I sit back and look over at her. There's so much trust in her eyes. She knows if I agreed to Emmett's insane plan that there's absolutely no risk to her in it. Only I don't think that's true.

"I'm not going to let them drive a car at me." She smiles. "Come."

"I can't." I say. "I can't watch that, I can't. I'll kill one of them."

"You could stand next to me; give me something to protect."

"See, I freak out over the very thought and you have no problem pulling me on the tracks with you!"

"Only because there's no danger." She says. "He's right."

"What?"

"Emmett, he's right. Edward, he's absolutely positive about this. He's thought this through ten ways to Sunday. He was the same way just before in class."

"He thinks you've got some invisible force field around you? Bella, that's ridiculous!"

"Says the _vampire_!" she laughs. "People say that about our existence! And he doesn't think I'll repel things. He thinks I'll be like Renata and divert them. But he thinks I can do it on a larger scale and protect more people at once, whereas she can only protect Aro."

I shake my head and throw the car into drive. We make it home in record time, silent the entire time. Jake's there when we arrive, much too eager in my opinion to get this stupid science experiment going.

Bella turns to me as everyone gathers up. Emmett and Jasper have the Jeep loaded down with stuff.

"_Are you _sure_ you won't come?"_

"I'm sorry." I say shaking my head.

"It's okay." She leans up and kisses me and then heads over to the others.

"One hair out of place, Emmett…" I let my threat linger.

"Come on, Bella." Rosalie says. You know, I feel oddly comforted knowing she's going to be there. Once Bella officially joined our family, Rosalie's loyalty became absolute. There's no one in this family more loyal than Rosalie. She may hate me at times, but she'll still walk through fire to protect me if she had to. It might be her only redeeming quality as far as I'm concerned.

As soon as they're gone, I turn towards the woods and take off running. I'm knocking on the cottage door in minutes. My daughter throws the door open and flings herself into my arms.

"I _knew_ you wouldn't go!" she laughs, hugging me tightly. She pulls back and puts her hand on my cheek. In seconds, she catches me up on her life the past week. There are quite a few black moments and I'd rather not think about what she's editing.

"Your uncles are throwing stuff at your mother."

"I know; Jake was so excited." She laughs. I growl darkly and sit down on the couch.

"You didn't want to go?"

"I thought you might need someone to hang out with."

I smile at her; this wonderful miracle of the universe, a beautiful enigma in even our strange world.

"Yes." I say with a heavy sigh.

"Daddy, I know you're anxious and you freak out when you don't have one hundred percent control over Mom's protection, but in what universe did you think she wouldn't want to explore this? You're the protector and she's the caretaker."

"I can't help it; it's been that way since the day I met her."

She sits down next to me smiling widely. _"Tell me the story again."_

"Aren't you tired of hearing it?"

"_Never."_

"It wasn't love at first sight; I wanted to eat her!"

"You didn't want to eat her!" she laughs.

"No, but I wanted to kill her. I was prepared to kill 20 other people in the room just to get to her."

"But you overcame it because you fell in love with her." She smiles with a sigh.

"Obsessively." I admit. "Still, to this day. Look at me, I'm a wreck."

"Do you think she knew in the beginning that you two were meant for each other?" she continues her prodding. "I mean, this is a world that's so normal to me, but to mom, it must have been a real eye opener, you know? And for her to just _not care_ even when you admitted to how much she affected you, that's really amazing."

"If there is something dangerous within a three state radius, Nessie, it will inevitably find your mother." I reply.

"It's just so different from everyone else's story. You're so strong, Daddy."

"I surprised even myself; I didn't think I would be."

"I don't think you could be anything but."

I smile at her unfailing faith in me, just like her mother. It warms my dead heart to know that despite the fact that she's married, she's still my little girl.

"So how was school today? Do you need any help with your homework?"

"You're hilarious." I sigh.

She snickers a bit and stands up. "What do you say we go hunting?"

"Aren't you supposed to be sticking to a human food diet?" I ask arching my eyebrow at her.

"My husband is hurling blunt objects at my mother at a startling velocity right this minute. I think he's going to have to deal with the consequences of that."

"All right. But I didn't need that reminder."

I stand up next to her and she links her arm with mine. "I've been craving a big, fat elk." She grins and marches us out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

I feel slightly better after having hunted, but not much. I spend the rest of the time pacing out front of the house; Nessie's sitting on the front steps watching me, sighing every now and then.

I can't help it. I will always feel for Bella the exact way I did when I fell in love with her, when I changed. I always am and always will be a complete and total maniac when she is not in my sight, especially in scenarios where I know something awful could happen to her.

My head snaps up in the direction I hear them arrive from; not a single one of them winded. Emmett, Jasper and Jake are smiling widely. Alice, of course, looks unsurprised and Bella looks…almost tired, if she could _be_ tired.

"_God, get a grip." _Rosalie groans at me. _"She still has all her limbs."_

"She deflects." Emmett says. I swear he sounds almost proud. "Every one of us and every thing we did. We even came at her at the same time from multiple directions. Not one of us made it anywhere near her."

"And the light?" I ask.

"I think that's where her shield is ultimately going." Emmett theorizes. "I think that might have been a fluke preview."

I scan her slowly from head to toe as she walks over to hug Nessie. "We're going to need to re-strategize." Jasper announces. "She needs to be at the center of all our maneuvers. We need to utilize her fully and protect her absolutely."

Emmett stands there tapping his chin, his and Jasper's minds racing a mile a minute now, visualizing all my worst nightmares.

I turn back to Bella, who accurately reads the desperate look in my eyes. She smiles gently and holds out her hand palm up. I move like lightning to her side.

"Daddy's been…" Nessie starts.

"Oh, I know how he's been, baby." Bella laughs lightly, squeezing my hand. Nessie and Jake head off to the garage to find Rosalie and Bella takes both my hands and leads me inside, upstairs and to our room.

"I am never going to get any better at this, you know." I state the obvious.

"After 12 years, Edward, I've picked up on that."

"You are all right though, right?"

"Yes." She laughs and pushes the door closed.

"Really? Because you look…"

"It's mentally draining stuff."

I wrap my arms around her waist and tip my forehead against hers, closing my eyes.

"I don't like the things they're talking about." I whisper.

"Nobody does."

"_I_ am your last line of defense."

"And I sleep better at night knowing that."

"I'm being serious."

"Okay, so I used to sleep better at night knowing that." I growl slightly in the back of my throat, but it harbors no warning for her…not that it ever did. "Edward, if there is one other thing, other than your love for me that I am absolutely positive of, is how utterly safe I am in your presence. You have proven over and over again that nothing will get me. And it brings me so much comfort. I know you worry about me, but I'm not the delicate soap bubble I once was. Jasper and Emmett have done an incredible job teaching me to fight, teaching me how to maximize my instincts.

"I understand why you haven't been able to watch, I do. But in not watching, Edward, you haven't _seen_ how good I've gotten. Does that make sense?"

"Yes."

She brings her hand up to my cheek and strokes with her thumb. "Things were very different when we met and I know that the change in you took place when I was human and it won't change. But I will still try anything to put your mind at ease."

That's not likely.

As it turned out, forces of the universe were conspiring against me. Nothing new when it comes to my wife.

Just as Bella, Jasper and I arrive at gym class, I hear the teacher's thought on the change in today's lesson.

Instead of basketball, it's self-defense.

"I'm ditching." I say immediately and turn around.

"What? Why?" Bella asks.

"You'll see."

We'd be uneven anyway. The teacher is going to pair us up which means a human will end up with a vampire and that won't lead to anything good. While any one of the three of us can control our strength, it'll be tough to explain the rock hard and ice cold skin.

"Edward." She says again.

"Trust me." I reply.

"Come on, Bells." Jasper says. "I'm sure he's got a good reason."

I duck into the library, pull out a book that I have no intentions of reading and my iPod and settle in at an empty table.

Then I jump into Sara Daniels' head for gym class.

_Damn, he's not here today? _

"_Is Edward sick?"_ she asks Bella.

"_Uh, a little yeah. He wasn't really up for gym class._" Bella lies.

"_I know you were expecting basketball today,"_ the teacher says. _"but instead we're going to start self-defense."_

"_Great. Thanks, bro."_ I hear Jasper. _"You _really_ couldn't have shared this with the rest of us… or just me?"_

_Ugh. Self defense. For what? What happens here?_

Bella looks a little surprised, but looks over at Sara and tries to give her a bonding smile.

"_I want you to pair up. Be realistic about your partners, please. And we're not actually out to hurt each other."_

The class all slowly stands up and Jasper and Bella drift off to the side away from the others.

"_I said _realistic_ about your partners."_ Mrs. Simon says to them. Jasper is significantly larger than Bella.

"_It's fine."_ Bella smiles gently. _"My brothers have been teaching me this stuff for years. I'll be fine with Jasper."_

"_Really?"_ Mrs. Simon asks intrigued. _"Actual self-defense?"_

"_Yes, ma'am."_ Jasper says.

"_I'm curious."_ Mrs. Simon says. _"Would you show us?"_

_Ha, ha, bro. You asked for it._ I think its Christmas for Jasper.

Bella and Jasper slowly make their way towards the center of the circle. Bella looks like she wants to be anywhere else. She hates being the center of attention.

"_Well, here's something I wasn't expecting to see."_ Danny Lawler thinks.

"_My brothers never taught me how to fight."_ Sara gets more forlorn by the day, I swear. I'm ready to adopt her over here, which is probably exactly what she wants…or not.

"_Figures. One of the hottest girls in school can probably kick my ass."_ That's right, Jeff Mason, she can put you through a wall! You pay attention and remember that, buddy!

Bella looks over at Mrs. Simon with a nervous smile and then looks at Jasper who's grinning widely. He's enjoying this very much.

"_Be gentle."_ He smirks.

"_Watch it."_ She huffs.

"_I'm only concerned for you. I don't want you to break a nail."_ He's egging her on.

"_Jasper Hale, I will shred you." _I love when she gets mad like this. She always reminds me of a pissed off kitten…except this kitten is stronger than a tiger.

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah, just hit me with your best shot."_ He says waving her on.

She circles around him, sizing him up and judging her angles. This is my cue to tune out, but in a controlled environment with so many humans watching, I'm curious. They can't use their full strength for sure, so she _has_ to be all right.

She dives at him but he immediately counters and gets her in a headlock.

I tense in my chair.

"_He's got her!"_ Danny laughs.

"_Nah, that was too easy."_ Jeff says.

"_Sing, Bells."_ Jasper says.

It looks like she moves like lightning to human eyes, but its slow motion to me. She elbows him in the stomach, stomps on his instep, spins and cracks him in the nose and then knees him in the groin.

Not that he actually felt any of that, but it looked like he did.

"_Holy shit!"_ Danny thinks.

"_Wow!"_ Sara's impressed.

"_Well, done, Mr. Hale." _Ms. Simon compliments. _"Stomach, instep, nose, groin. S-I-N-G. I think you effectively ensured no one will be asking Ms. Swan to the prom this year."_

There's snickering among the females in class and the boys look…a little afraid.

Jasper pushes her back a little bit from himself. He lunges at her and gets her again, bringing her down onto the mat flat on her back. I nearly take off the end of the table. He stands up and smirks down at her, winking at her in victory.

But it was short lived. She rolls on her side, sweeps her foot out and takes his legs out from underneath him. I chuckle when I see that she genuinely took him by surprise. She smiles widely at him, but I think it's more for me. He helps her to her feet, not that she needed it, but it was the human and gentlemanly thing to do and then he ruffles her hair. She smoothes it down and glares at him.

"_All right, you two."_ Mrs. Simon says. _"Why do I get the feeling that this can go on the rest of the class? You and your brothers have definitely taught Ms. Swan well."_ She turns to the rest of the class. _"All right everyone. We'll start with Mr. Hale's 'SING'. It's the most common and most effective sequence."_

"_Nice move with the legs. Who taught you that one?"_ Jasper asks Bella as Mrs. Simon turns away from them. They've earned the right to not participate for sure now.

"_That was Rose's."_ she smiles.

"_Ah, not her normal style, but it worked quite well."_

"_I told you I could drop you."_ She grins proudly.

"_That one won't work on Emmett."_

I sigh in frustration. I swear sometimes I think they are actually _trying_ to give me a heart attack. Lord knows Bella has come close many times.

They sit down off to the side and lean up against the wall, watching the participants. Sara's now turned to her partner Kelly something or other and I tune out of her head. There's only so long I can really stomach hearing the things people think about me.

I sit back in my chair and watch the clock. I wonder about what Bella said about 'shutting my gift off.' I told her I tried, but have I ever actually tried or just tried to ignore it all? Until Bella, I had never met anyone that could do that or even knew that was possible. Bella's shield has never been a conscious thing; it's her default setting it seems. She has to try to turn it _on_. She's loosely explained to me how she does it and so I have a basic understanding, but I never considered the opposite might work with me.

I never tried to apply the theory in reverse. I've always just tried to shut the voices out, turn down their volume, and I've been able to get them down to a dull buzzing. But if my theory is correct and our gifts _do_ improve over time, as seems to be proven by Bella, then shouldn't that apply to me? Shouldn't my gift change too?

But then again, neither Alice nor Jasper's gifts seem to have changed much over time, if at all and nothing ever seems to apply to me in the normal sense. _I_ fell in love with a human. Of course, I argue that Emmett was human when Rosalie fell in love with him, but he was a dying human. Bella was perfectly healthy…though how she was managing that is still an enigma to me.

But still, maybe it is possible. Maybe it's all a matter of control and the others always argue that I've got the best control of anyone they've ever met. When Bella was human, the smell of her blood appealed to me more than anyone else's ever has. And since I was in love with her, slaughtering her wouldn't have been very helpful, so I needed to condition myself in how to be around her and not kill her. I never thought it was possible to possess that kind of control. And it didn't help that she was never afraid, never thought to watch her actions, her movements, how she dressed, how close she came to me, _anything_ at all. Very confounding.

Still, if there's anything she's taught me it's that truly anything is possible.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: Not mine; no copyright infringement intended.**_

_**Thanks to my super beta!**_

_**A/N: Sorry the chapters in this story run short. Sometimes that happens with me, some are long, some are short, they just sort end where it feels right.**_

"Bellllaaaa!" Rosalie sings skipping over to us in the living room. "It's that time of year again!"

Here we go.

"Why?" Bella groans dropping her forehead to her hand. "Why do we have to do this every year?"

Rosalie grins widely and points at her. "Because you get like this." She chuckles.

"Nobody else celebrates their human birthday. Why am I the only one that's tortured?"

"Because you're the only one that's so damn entertaining about it." Emmett laughs. "I wish you had _two_ birthdays!" Bella glares at him. "Oh wait a minute, we _do _do this for your vampire birthday too!"

"Ha. Ha." She grumbles. Then she turns beseeching eyes on me. "Edward!"

"Love, you know I'd whisk you far away from here, but eventually we'd have to come back and they'd be waiting."

"You're a co-conspirator!"

My eyes widen innocently at her. "Love, you wound me. I haven't gotten you a birthday present since you turned 18."

"Well, _we_ got you something." Rosalie smiles. She grabs Bella's hand and pulls her along behind her out the door where the others are waiting.

"Why, Rose?" Bella demands again.

"Because it drives you nuts." Rosalie shrugs unapologetically. Rosalie and Bella buried their hatchets long ago when Nessie was born, but it doesn't stop Rosalie from being, well, Rosalie from time to time. Bella's just learned to go with it. Really, when you're spending eternity with someone, you learn to get along. Eternity is a very long time.

Rosalie marches Bella right by everyone else towards the garage. "It's not a car, right?" Bella asks anxiously and I laugh. "I really don't need another car. I barely drive the one I've got."

"I know and that's such a crime." Rosalie says. "But no, it's not a car."

We stop in front of the garage and she gestures grandly. Bella's jaw drops.

"It's a truck!" Rosalie says proudly.

Actually, it's a fully loaded Chevy Silverado 2500. Silver. Enormous. And the last vehicle on the planet I think I would ever dream of buying. I can only imagine what Rosalie's done to it.

"Oh my God!" Bella gasps.

"It's in honor of your old tank." Emmett grins.

"And that's not even the best part." Rosalie grins, tossing a smirk at me. _Wait till you get a load of this, Little Brother, it's got a _Governor_ on it!_

"That's just juvenile!" I protest. Rosalie laughs and Bella looks over at me for clarification. "She put a Governor on it. It'll only go up to a certain speed."

"55."

"Believe me, bro, I tried to talk her out of it." Emmett says.

"We _all_ tried to talk her out of it." Alice scoffs, crossing her arms.

I look over at Rosalie. _"Ha!"_ She's very proud of herself and I have to admit I'm impressed. That's very crafty. And it proves that though she hardly shows it, she really does love Bella; and I'm starting to suspect more than anyone else except Emmett.

Bella grins widely and then looks over at Rosalie. "It's really great." She confesses and I grin. Just when I think I've got her figured out, I don't. Not fully. She never does what I expect.

"Wow, really?" Jasper's surprised. "I thought you'd freak."

"No, it's great. Thank you." She smiles and looks over at me. _"I mean, if I'm forced to accept a gift, this is a pretty good one, right?"_ I chuckle and pull her into my arms as the others peel away.

"I don't suppose you're over the balance thing?" I smile, pressing my lips to her forehead and then her jaw.

"No, but if you're gearing up for what I think you're gearing up for, that's a great gift."

"It's the day my world changed and I didn't even know it." I say kissing my way down her jaw.

"I thought that was the day we met."

"No, that was not a good day for me." I confess. "The intense urge to kill you is definitely not something I enjoy remembering." She chuckles against my shoulder. "I'm glad you're so amused. I'd like to see you exercise that kind of control."

She kisses me on the cheek before she pulls away. "It's not like you to be annoyed with me."

"Why do you think that is, do you think?"

"I don't understand." She says shaking her head.

"Why do you think I could control the urge to kill you then, the most powerful thing I've ever felt, next to my love for you, but I can't control the ability to shut out the thoughts I hear?" I frown at her and she looks at me surprised.

"You think it's because you don't have the _control_?" She looks amazed…and then annoyed. "How could you think something like that?"

"Well, what else could it be?"

"Other than the fact that maybe it's not possible?"

"But by my own theories, it must be." I insist. "Look how your talent has changed; you can drop your shield when you want to. You can control who you shield. Doesn't it stand to reason that I should be able to do the same?"

"Jasper and Alice can't."

"Jasper absolutely controls his and if Alice is focusing she can look for specific things too."

"But you can focus more on specific people and phase out others."

"But I've never had silence, unless you and I are somewhere all by ourselves." I countered. "It stands to reason that I _should_ be able to control it, but for whatever reason, I'm too weak."

"Don't you _ever_ say that!" she hisses at me. I'm surprised at her vehemence. "You are not weak; you've never been weak."

"Of course I have!" I laughed. "I should have been able to stay away from you, but I failed miserably at that."

"Being weak and being selfish are two different things." She insists.

"If that was supposed to be a compliment, it wasn't a very good one."

"Nobody has the strength you do, _nobody."_

"Emmett."

"You have the complete package, Edward."

I let out a frustrated breath and look off into the woods all too keen on the white noise surrounding me; Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper in the garage admiring Bella's new truck with Emmett and Jasper pleading with Rosalie to take the Governor off; Carlisle upstairs in his office, reading a medical journal and thinking about a patient he saw last night; Esme mulling over the paint color in the kitchen, she's thinking of a soft yellow; Alice is on the computer picking out all of our winter wardrobes, I think that shirt will look awful on Emmett myself, but she knows what she's doing, I always just shut up and wear what she hands me.

And Bella with her silence.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: Not mine; no copyright infringement intended.**_

_**A/N: Am I the only one that hasn't seen Eclipse yet? Feels like it.**_

8.

I frown as I see Bella, Alice and Sara cross the parking lot towards me after play rehearsal. Bella is looking at Sara sympathetically and Sara looks like she's been crying. Bella looks like she wants to put her arm around Sara for comfort, but likewise knows that wouldn't be a very good idea.

"What's wrong?" I ask as they make their way to my side.

Sara snaps her eyes up to mine and quickly wipes away the tears. "It's nothing," Bella says unconvincingly.

"_Oh great! This is mortifying!"_ Sara pastes a fake smile on her face and shakes her head. "It's fine; just stupid girl stuff." "_Because it would kill any one of them to look at _me_ like this; because it's certainly not like they could take a lesson from the Cullens and Hales on how families are _supposed_ to act. Even their unconventional family is more functional!_

"You're sure?" I ask her arching a skeptical brow and then look at my wife.

"_I'll tell you in the car."_

"Definitely," Sara nods. "Um, thanks Bella; thanks Alice. I'm glad to have you around."

"Anytime," Alice sings. "Call if you need anything. We go to bed late."

Sara walks off to her car and I open the door for Bella and Alice. Right before I slide into the driver's seat, I hear one last thought of Sara's. _"He even opens the car door for them! Little things like that, little courteous things…"_

"What is that all about?" I ask as soon as we're in motion. I look over at Bella, but it's Alice that answers.

"It's so depressing, Edward! She was so upset today! Apparently, her mother died when she was just a baby and she was raised by her dad. Her brothers are a little older than her, but only a few years. Well, it seems that her family isn't very…loving, I guess you could say."

"They're abusive?" I ask immediately.

"No, no!" Alice says. "She says they're not." And I can't say I've heard anything in Sara's thoughts that would make me suspect that either. "It just seems like they don't know how to relate to her. They're not emotionally available from what I understand; it seems they never have been. She says they forget her a lot and don't think of her when they make plans; they just assume she won't want to do things because she's a girl. They never ask any questions about where she's going or who she dates. They say they don't want to pry but it seems like they just don't really _care._"

"Yes, that is sad."

"If you don't mind, Edward, I told her I'd go out with her tomorrow night. I think she could use some cheering up. Her friend Megan doesn't really hang out with her anymore."

"I didn't realize that," I murmured.

"Well, it seems that Megan doesn't like that Sara hangs out with us."

"Megan's actually being smart," I laugh.

"Well, she would be if her reasons were at all based in fear or apprehension, but it seems that they're just steeped in jealousy," Bella actually mumbles the last part.

"Jealousy?" I frown. "Of what?"

"_Oh, come _on_!"_ It's Alice I hear now.

"Well, Sara's been to our house and you're so polite, you talk to her and you're friendly when she speaks to you…" Bella trails off.

"That's it," I say with finality. "Tomorrow, I'm grabbing you and kissing you right in the cafeteria. You'll be lucky if I don't do something ridiculously romantic first."

"Edward!" Bella sighs exasperated, knowing full well I'd never directly go against a wish of hers…much as I want to.

"I'll drop to my knees and recite Shakespeare!"

"And we'll all try not to throw up on the spot," Alice groans and I smirk at her in the rearview mirror.

"There is nothing I can do about it then," I say and reach over to take Bella's hand. She smiles brilliantly at me.

"Anyway," she says, "If you don't mind, I think I'll go to a movie or something with Sara. She said she'd drive me home, even though I don't need the ride…well, she doesn't know that."

"Of course I don't mind," I reply. "Alice, are you going?"

"No, I begged off. I didn't want us to look any more freaky than we already do," Alice shrugs. Nothing seems amiss with Alice, so I don't get worked up about Bella not being with me.

Alice scampers off when we pull up to the house. Bella and I walk past the garage where Rosalie and Emmett are mulling over Bella's truck.

"Needs a better sound system," Emmett mutters. "And maybe some fog lights on the top."

"That'll look ridiculous." Rosalie scoffs in return.

"Well, at the very least, bigger tires."

"She can hardly get up into the cab now. This truck is for _her_."

"She pounces right up into it. Bigger tires." Emmett insists.

Bella rolls her eyes and takes my hand as we head off to our meadow, arriving in minutes. She smiles and tugs me along to the middle. "Alice says it's going to be sunny this weekend."

"Not a weekday? That's too bad. We're starting Merchant of Venice on Friday."

"We should come here on Saturday."

"Anything you want."

"Maybe we could work on blocking the voices." She's hesitant in her suggestion like she's afraid it's a touchy subject.

"Now you _do_ think it's possible?"

"I think it's worth pursuing." She shrugs. She sits down in the grass and tugs my hand until I join her there. "Just like I thought Emmett's theory was worth pursuing. I'm just surprised it's not something that you have really tried before. And I don't like it when you think of yourself as weak."

Well, that conversation can go nowhere positive, so I don't comment.

"So, I think in order to decide how best to approach it, we need to look at all our talents analytically." She begins, sounding very official.

"I love you." I whisper. I can't help it. She's just as determined to do anything for me as I her.

"Yes, I love you too." She smiles back coyly. "Now, in order for me to expand my shield, or 'throw it out' as you all like to call it…" she starts, but stops abruptly when I raise my hand to her face and stroke her cheek. "Are you listening to me?"

"Yes, of course."

"You seem a little distracted."

"I don't know what makes you think _that_." I say softly, leaning forward to place a kiss just under her jaw. "Just because we're all alone…here in our meadow…"

"_You're_ the one that wanted to try this."

"Well, not _now_ I didn't." I say moving along her jaw to her lips.

"I think it's all in the concentration."

"I am concentrating."

"On what I'm saying?"

"No, not really."

"I have theories; I've been thinking about this."

"You have?" I ask pulling away.

"Yes."

"A lot?"

"Yes."

"I am intrigued; let's hear them."

"Really?"

"Yes, absolutely." It's not like we have to go to sleep later or anything. I can certainly be a pillar of patience when it's called for. I don't think that anyone on the planet has exercised the sort of restraint that I have in the past.

"Well, you said you've never really _tried_ to completely block out the thoughts, just lower their volume. Well, I have to concentrate very hard on my shield and it doesn't work when my concentration is anywhere else. I don't think it's a matter of control, I think it's a matter of concentration."

"I am not sure that I completely follow you right now."

"Well, you said yourself before we met you felt like you were searching for something, but you didn't know what."

"Yes."

"Then after we met, you had to concentrate very hard on not killing me. Your mind is always in many different places, never in one specific spot."

"Are you implying that I'm _flighty_?" I ask pulling my eyebrows together.

"No, of course not!" she rushes to reassure me. "I just think that something that powerful in your mind, thoughts that aren't yours intruding, would take all of your concentration to stop."

She looks very proud of herself.

"I have to admit, that is a compelling theory."

"Either that or you really _have_ been bit by a radioactive spider, in which case you're stuck with the hand you've been dealt," she shrugs. She never ceases to make me laugh.

"And so I need to concentrate on…"

"Silence," she answers simply. And I think maybe the answer's been there all along. At least in that one word it feels that way.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Dear Readers: Alright, it's been awhile. I'm very sorry. See, the thing is, is I was well into this story when it's decided to go in a totally different direction! It did not consult me in its decision AT ALL! But I have to oblige it because I think it's for the best. But it has become obvious to me, given that I know the direction of the story, that this story will definitely have a sequel and you will soon see why. But I want to honor my original story idea while accommodating this new intrusive idea!**_

_**Thanks to my betas who assured me that the new direction wasn't completely off the wall.**_

9.

Concentrate on silence. Shouldn't be too hard.

"Edward, come outside and play football."

"I'm doing something here, Emmett."

"Really? You're just sitting there."

"I'm not."

"All right then."

Let's try again. Silence. No thoughts, no sound, no…

"_Bro, come play chess."_

"I'm a little busy here, Jazz."

"Doing?"

"Concentrating."

"On?"

"Not being interrupted."

"Sounds boring."

"Thank you."

All right. Quiet. Silence. A hushed environment…

"_Edward…"_

This obviously is not going to work at home. Now Rosalie needs something…

"Rosalie, Emmett hid Bella's keys. He wants to sneak the truck off to get the Governor taken off." I say in more frustration than she deserved…well, than she deserved at this particular moment anyway.

"I'll kill him!" she grumbles spinning on her heel and storming out of my room. This is definitely something I can't do here. But if I do it someplace quiet, how am I going to know its working?

"Jasper!" I call.

"Chess?" he asks reappearing in my doorway.

"No, I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure."

He walks into the room and looks at me expectantly.

"It's going to sound strange."

"Coming from you? I doubt it."

"I need you to just sit there and think," I say.

He looks at me interestingly and sits down on the bed. "You know, I find it a little scary that I don't find that request odd coming from you." But he watches me pace the room. _"Am I supposed to think about anything in particular?"_

"No, just whatever comes to mind."

There's a pause when I hear nothing at all and I wonder if it's working. I look over at Jasper, who looks frustrated. _"Now I feel under pressure! I don't know what to think about!" _I groan in frustration. _"Okay. I'll think of something."_

I start pacing.

"_I'm Henry the Eighth I am, Henry the Eighth I am, I am. I got married to the widow next door, she's been married seven times before!"_

I. Don't. Believe. It.

"_And everyone was a Henry, Henry! She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam!"_

"Okay, Jasper! Thanks."

"You're cool?"

"Yes," I nod.

"Okay then," He says. He stands up and starts to walk out of the room, but a familiar gasp has us both freeze up for a split second before we're in motion to his and Alice's room.

Alice is standing in the middle of the room, with the CDs that it looks like she was holding scattered around her feet and with that vacant look in her eyes that always causes a lump to form in my throat.

I see her vision in my mind. It's the tail end of a Volkswagen Bug that's run off the road and is in a ditch, hazard lights blinking in the black night, the front end is crumpled around a tree and Sara, covered in blood is hanging in the car by the seatbelt. Bella is scrambling out the side window.

"Where?" I demand with a growl. "Where are they?"

"She's okay." She says in answer.

"Where. Is. She?" Every word is punctuated with a low guttural snarl.

"Route 101," She says with the same vacant expression. "Bella's out of the car…"

"Carlisle!" I call as I fly out their open bedroom window. Six pairs of feet are hot on my heels as Alice is filling them in and injecting updates for my benefit.

"She's unharmed; Sara doesn't look good. She's…oh!"

In minutes, we've come upon the accident scene and Alice was right. Bella appears absolutely fine, if not incredibly upset and frantic.

"Bella!" I say with relief when I reach her side. "Love, are you all right?"

She looks around us, looking for something. "Emmett! Em, you have to get this door off. Sara's bleeding. She's unconscious!"

Emmett tears the driver's side door off in a blur of violent motion.

"Sara!" Bella calls with a dry sob. "Oh no, Sara!" I pull her back a few steps and clutch her to me as Carlisle moves in to assess Sara. Bella spins in my arms. "There was a deer and she lost control of the car. I tried to change the course, Edward, I tried."

"Calm down, Love," I murmur pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"We have to get her to the hospital," Carlisle says. "She's got internal bleeding and a head trauma, but I don't know how bad it is."

"It's bad," Alice whispers and everyone looks to her. She meets Bella's eyes. "Very bad."

"She'll die?" Bella gasps. Alice nods. "We can't let that happen."

"Bella!" Rosalie says in pure astonishment. "She's injured. If Carlisle can't save her…"

"He _can_ save her!" Bella insists and turns pleadingly to Carlisle. "You can save her, Carlisle, you can change her!"

"Bella, honey, I know it seems like the easy solution, but I can't change everyone I come across who's dying."

"But she's so young; she's only 17! This isn't fair."

"Isabella," I say as gently as I can, bringing my hands to her face, but she shakes me off.

"She deserves better than this. Edward, she's my friend."

Her eyes are pleading with me. I start to recognize the desperate feeling I get right before I'm going to give her what she wants against my better judgment. "Carlisle," I croak.

Carlisle looks to Alice. "Everything just disappeared," she says.

"It's disappeared because of the pack," Emmett says. "The pack will know as soon as it's done."

"I can handle the pack!" Bella insists.

"It's not as simple as that, Bella."

"Edward," she pleads frantically to me. "You can do it; I know you can. You changed me." I changed Bella out of love.

"Carlisle," I say again, twisting my fingers into her hair. I'm dangerously close to giving her what she wants.

"We're talking about a newborn vampire that doesn't have Bella's previous knowledge," Jasper joins in.

"Esme?" Carlisle asks turning to his companion and our mother.

"It's like the day you brought Rosalie home," she whispers.

Carlisle turns and extricates Sara as gently as possible.

"Carlisle!" Rosalie protests.

"She can't stay here!" he barks. "Either way, she can't stay here."

We sit in the hallway outside the "guest room" that Carlisle transformed into a hospital room for Bella when she was human and that now generally serves as Nessie's room when she decides to stay over.

Jasper paces slowly in front of the door. He's deep in thought about a newborn vampire being in the house. Rosalie is leaning up against the wall; she's specifically thinking of unrelated things, so I know she doesn't want me to know what she really thinks. Emmett's standing next to her. Esme, Carlisle and Alice are in the room with Sara and Bella is next to me, fingers entwined with mine.

"Do you hate me, Jasper?" she asks him quietly.

"No, of course not, Bells." He smiles lightly. "I just don't like the thought of a newborn vampire around."

"We'll teach her. You did wonderfully with me."

"Because you already knew everything. You were easy, mostly. Sara knows nothing of our existence or our life. You knew the things you had to work to control right from the outset. She's going to wake up and be completely unpredictable."

"It's not just that," Rosalie finally says. "Sara has a family; a family that's going to be looking for her. We're the ones that have been publicly seen with her."

"Lots of people have been publically seen with her." I argue.

"But Bella was _last_ seen with her."

"I'll say she dropped me off at home."

"The car?" Rosalie asks.

"Jasper and I took care of the car," Emmett says. "No one will find it. As far as anyone will be concerned, Sara's missing. When enough time has passed, Sara can call her family and say she's run away and that she's safe. Then they won't have to mourn her."

"She was going to die, Rosalie." Bella whispers. "She's so young and that's such a waste."

"Humans die, Bella," Rosalie replies. "I know I sound callous, but they do. That's the way it's supposed to be, and tragically, sometimes their lives are cut short."

"Carlisle agreed with me."

"Carlisle is a sucker for situations like this." She shoots back.

"And school on Monday?" Emmett asks.

"Alice says it's supposed to be sunny. No one will expect us." Jasper answers.

"Bella, it's just that it's one thing to make the decision for yourself, knowing everything there is to know going into it, it's another to make it for someone else." Rosalie says. "Do you think she'll be happy about it?"

"She might," Bella replies. "She'll finally have a real family that loves her."

My head snaps up a split second before the door opens and Alice appears. "It's finished," she says quietly and we all fly through the door.

Sara sits up slowly, blinking her fire bright eyes, looking around the room, confusion spread across her face, followed by fear.

"Bella, love," I say softly to my wife standing next to me. "Ladies, please wait outside."

"Edward, she's my friend," Bella immediately protests.

I take my wary eyes off of Sara and focus them on my wife. "Now." I stress.

Bella glares at me, but turns to leave the room nonetheless, not without a certain amount of frustration however. "_Of all the overprotective, frustrating, ridiculous…"_ Luckily for me, my sister and mother seem to agree with her. But Alice, of course, hovers behind.

"That meant you too," Jasper says.

"I think it's more beneficial to have me here," she answers.

"I think we can manage," he replies.

"Jasper," she pleads.

"Go Alice," he directs.

She hisses at him before leaving the room, but things are obviously going to turn out okay if she left without more argument.

"Hello, Sara," I say softly.

"_What's going on? What a strange dream this is! Though, not wholly unpleasant."_

"It's not a dream," I say.

"_I said that out loud! Oh God!"_

"No, you didn't say that out loud," I say.

"I don't understand."

"Sara," Carlisle says stepping forward with Jasper on his flank. "What do you remember?"

"Pain. A lot of pain." _My voice! Was that me?_

"And before the pain?"

"An accident," she says. "Oh! I'm dead then. I didn't make it? Bella and I died?" _It's like it sounds like me, but it's not the sound of _my_ voice. _

"No, not exactly," Carlisle says. "You were going to. You were injured and you wouldn't have recovered from those injuries. I changed you."

"Changed me? Into what?"

"Emmett," I say quickly right before Rosalie throws the door open and enters abruptly, closing it behind her. Sara jumps back and into a crouch. She looks surprised by her own actions and Jasper strategically counters her movements.

"Rose," Emmett sighs.

"This is ridiculous. I think I'm the best person to be in here right now," she huffs. She looks over at me. "_Who better than me to know what she's experiencing right now? Who better than I to explain it so she understands?"_

"Well, you're certainly not doing it by yourself," I say.

"Perhaps, but all this has to be a little intimidating for her," she points out.

"I stay, Rose, that's that." Jasper insists. "It's not a debate."

"Rosalie, Jasper and Edward then." Carlisle nods and motions to Emmett to leave the room with him.

As the door closes behind them, Jasper exercises his talent and the mood in the room is calmed down, not that Rosalie and I need it, but it'll definitely help with Sara.

Rosalie steps forward and takes Sara by the hand, leading her over to the full length mirror and positioning her in front of it. Sara's red eyes widen in disbelief as she takes in her pale hard skin, her eyes, the shine of her hair, all the beautiful traits of hers that have been magnified to draw in our natural prey.

"Of course, it _is_ a dream!"

"It's not a dream," Rosalie says. "And the reason I'm so sure is that you no longer have the need to sleep. You don't need to sleep, you don't need to eat and you don't need to breathe, though if you want to have a sense of smell, you'll accustom yourself to faking it. That burning you feel in the back of your throat, that means that you're thirsty. Hunting is instinctive, but we'll teach you. You can run faster than a cheetah, you can lift a Durango over your head, and you can direct a room full of humans to your whim. You'll never age and it's likely you'll never die."

Sara regarded Rose cautiously. "Why am I that way?"

Rose smiles gently. "Because _we're_ that way, and we changed you, rather than let you die."

"And what exactly are _you_?"

Rose smirked a bit and raised an eyebrow. "Vampires."

"This can't be real!" she says as she starts to laugh, but stops abruptly as the sound of her laughter startles her and intrigues her at the same time.

Sara turns to me. Here it comes.

"Did you call Bella 'Love'?"

"Yes."

"Why? You're together?"

"We've been together for 12 years; we're married, we've got a daughter. Bella is the center of my existence, but she's uncomfortable with the charade at school so we pretend we're not a couple, that we're just brother and sister, but she is very much my love."

"She just turned 18." Sara shakes her head.

"If you're going in vampire years, she just turned 29."

"How old are you?"

"In human years?"

"In…" _"I don't think I can say it."_

"129."

"How are you answering questions I'm not asking?"

"You're asking them in your mind."

"You can hear them?"

"Yes."

"Can _you_?" she turns to Rosalie.

"No," Rosalie says. "Some of us can do special things; others can't." Then Rosalie looks over to me. _"She doesn't seem too happy with _you_."_

No, it certainly doesn't appear that way.

"_So I'm immortal, but I will apparently spend eternity all by myself. Well, isn't that craptastic. Bella never even mentioned having a boyfriend, though I suppose what Alice said is true. That was clever." _I raise my eyebrows at her simmering anger. _"And I suppose you heard _that_."_ I nod.

She squints her eyes shut and her body starts to tremble. I get an uneasy feeling. If I had still been human I think that my hair would have stood up. "Rosalie, I think you should leave," I say softly.

"_Please. There's three of us in here and one is _Jasper_. Take a pill."_

Suddenly, Sara's thoughts flash erratically. Images fly through like a slideshow in fast forward. Rosalie walking at night; Rosalie screaming in pain; Rosalie hunting and finding Emmett. Then they're gone and Sara is looking at Rosalie intently, trying to figure out what she saw. Rosalie, understandably, is curious by the expression on Sara's face and Sara drops Rosalie's hand. She looks over at me.

"_Did you see that?"_ I nod in response. _"What was that?"_

"I have no idea." I confess.

"What?" Rosalie asks surprised.

"Sara's just had a few flashes of your past."

Rosalie looks to Sara in part surprise and part accusation. Sara looks confused. She's still trying to make sense of everything, particularly the burning sensation in her throat. Sara still has to see Bella for the first time. I'd rather her not be swirling in a fit of rage at the time.

"She needs to hunt," Jasper says determinedly. "Now."

Rosalie steps forward and gestures out the window for Sara. "Shall we?"


End file.
